Contextual Factors

Secondary Methods Assignment Cover Sheet

Title of Assignment: Contextual Factors

Name: Katy Wood Date: October 14, 2011

Competency 004: The teacher understands learning processes and factors that impact student learning and demonstrates this knowledge by planning effective, engaging instruction and appropriate assessments.

Justification Statement:

I created this artifact on October 14, 2011. It was written in regards to Caney Creek High School’s AEIS report. This information will be very useful in examining the outside factors I, as an educator, will have to take into consideration in planning my lessons. Being able to look up this information will be extremely useful in the future when I begin my teaching career at a different school and district. Understanding the background and environmental factors of my students will help me become a more effective teacher.

Contextual Factors

The geographic location of Caney Creek High School within the state of Texas is in the southeast region, north of Houston. The community surrounding this school is a very rural small town with the majority of the population being white. The ethnic distribution with a total of 1,686 students includes: 27 African American (1.6%), 512 Hispanic (30.4%), 1,133 white (67.2%), 9 Native American (.5%), and 5 Asian (.3%). The number of students in each grade level include: 533 freshmen (31.6%), 464 sophomores (27.5%), 353 juniors (20.9%), and 337 seniors (20%). Of all of the students in this high school, over 50% are economically disadvantaged, 54.7% to be exact, and 42.6% of all high school students are At-Risk students. According to the Conroe Chamber of Commerce Website, the community is very stable, with many links to various businesses and job opportunities. They constantly praise their school districts, especially Conroe ISD, mentioning their “competitive athletic programs that frequently win district and state championships”.

Within the classroom I am doing my field experience, the walls are covered with bulletin boards filled with information about the drama department, including pictures of current and past students. There is also a white board along one wall of the classroom that my mentor teacher uses to write down the journal questions each morning for the various classes. There is also a large TV with a VHS/DVD player hooked up to it for the students to view various movies that are relevant to the lesson. There are two computers in the classroom. One is in the office, and the other is the mentor’s laptop. Both of these computers are strictly for teacher use. There are classroom rules, but they are not posted and visible. These rules are gone over at the beginning of the year and are emphasized throughout the year. The teacher uses small groups on a regular basis for partnered improvisation or group improv, as well as coming up with a scene to perform in class. For the most part, the classroom routine is consistent. The teacher begins with a warm up question on the board, a discussion about that question, and then gives a short lesson with an activity or game to follow to emphasize what was just taught. The theatre classroom does not have traditional desks/seating. There are regular chairs, and the teacher arranges them differently for various activities. For example, at the beginning of each class, the students arrange their chairs in rows at the front of the classroom for their journal entry, but the chairs are moved to the back of the classroom for improv games and performances.

Student characteristics that need to be addressed as instruction is designed include age, gender, ethnicity, special needs, culture, language, and learning styles. In the periods that I observe, the amount of boys versus the amount of girls is about equal. There isn’t an overwhelming number of either gender in any of my observed classes. The average age of students in the theatre one class is typically freshmen level, since it is a first level class. However, students of any age can take theatre one. In advanced theatre, the students are all at least sophomores, but the levels are dispersed evenly throughout the class. In theatre one, the majority of the students are Caucasian, with a handful of Hispanic students. In advanced theatre, the majority are Caucasian, with a handful of Hispanic students and one African American student. In theatre one, about a third of the students have special needs, with a majority of these needs involving a learning disability like ADD. In the advanced theatre class, there are only one or two students with special needs. In theatre one, there is one student who speaks English as a second language, and in advanced theatre, there are four students who speak English as a second language. They are still required to take the TAKS test in both of the classes. They generally have good English speaking skills, but prefer to speak in Spanish to their friends. In both of the theatre classes, the achievement levels of the students are based on participation, especially performance, so most of the students that try and put forth an effort usually do well and make A’s. However, the students that don’t try, don’t write in their journal for the warm up, and refuse to participate are the ones that barely pass. When I taught my lesson today, every single student responded extremely well to visual learning, and even better to tactile learning. The prior knowledge students need to understand for the lesson includes information they learned the previous day. Many of the teacher’s lessons built on the previous lesson.

Instructional implications that will need to be addressed include community, classroom and student characteristics. If I were teaching theatre in a community where the majority of the population is African American, I would need to focus various aspects of theatre on topics that would be of interest to those students, such as emphasizing different African American playwrights...etc. I would also try to include various cultural aspects into my teaching. For example, if the students I taught were really interested in dancing, I would incorporate that into my improvisation activities. The same would hold true for students that were interested in other things, such as sports. In conclusion, knowing the various factors of the district and community can be very influential in teaching and assessing students in the classroom.

Learning Objectives

Title of Assignment: Learning Objectives

Name: Katy Wood Date: October 21^st, 2011

q Competency 003 – The teacher understands procedures for designing effective and coherent instruction and assessment based on appropriate learning goals and objectives.

Justification Statement:

I understand procedures for designing effective and coherent instruction and assessment based on appropriate learning goals and objectives because I have written out learning objectives for a unit in my classroom. I have thought out effective instruction through contemplating the various learning styles and adapting my instruction to meet the needs of many, if not all, of the different learning styles. The learning goals I have written are appropriate for theatre II, and I have taken the time to brainstorm various forms of assessment to allow for the learning goals to be met.

Learning Objectives

Learning Objective 1: Students will be able to analyze, develop, and create believable characters through improvisation and written scripts.

Justification: This objective is based on all levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. In order for students to create believable characters, they must first be able to analyze and develop a character before creating it. But before that, they must understand what a character is. This objective will go through all levels of the taxonomy, keeping auditory learners engaged through teacher explanation and lecture. The visual learners will grasp their understanding through watching the teacher and other students give physical examples of how different characters might move and act. The students will also be placed in small groups to accommodate the kinesthetic learners, where the students will be working together to perform a scene. Working in groups will also help the interpersonal learners who learn best through interaction with other students. This objective is aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Theatre, Level II (2) Creative expression/performance. The student interprets characters, using the voice and body expressively, and creates dramatizations. The student is expected to: (B) analyze characters from various genres and (C) create and sustain believable characters.

Learning Objective 2: Students will become aware of their bodies and voices as they warm up and employ stage movement.

Justification: This objective is based on the first three levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy; remembering, understanding and applying. This objective should be taught and practiced well before any other type of creative expression can occur. This objective will engage all types of learners. The auditory learners will learn the information regarding the areas of the stage, how to project their voice…etc. by teacher lecture. The visual learners will understand through pictures on the board, as well as watching other students stand on the proper places of the stage. The physical learners will learn the best by actually going onto a stage and moving throughout the stage, as well as speaking on stage. By learning these basic skills, the students will be able to continue in their creativity. This objective is aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Theatre, Level II (1) Perception. The student develops concepts about self, human relationships, and the environment. The student is expected to: (B) employ stage movement and pantomime consistently; (C) demonstrate effective voice and diction.

Assessment Plan

Secondary Methods Assignment Cover Sheet

Title of Assignment: Assessment Plan

Name: Katy Wood Date: October 28, 2011

q Competency 003 – The teacher understands procedures for designing effective and coherent instruction and assessment based on appropriate learning goals and objectives.

Justification Statement:

This artifact was created October 28^th of 2011 for an advanced theatre classroom in the high school level. I have had the opportunity to use the different assessments in this artifact during my field experience in an advanced theatre classroom, so I understand how effective each one is. The various assessments I have listed in this artifact will be used in my future classroom, should I be teaching the high school level. However, some of these assessments can be used for younger levels as well. This will be effective in my classroom because I know these assessments work. I have personally used these assessments in my lesson plans and teaching and know they work.

Assessment Plan

Learning Objectives	Assessment	Format of Assessment	Adaptations
Learning Objective #1: Students will become aware of their bodies as they warm up and employ stage movement.	Pre-Assessment Formative Assessment Post-Assessment	The pre-assessment will include a picture drawn on the board with a journal warm-up stating to label the different parts of the stage/theatre using what they already know about the stage. Using tape to mark different areas of the stage, the students will be asked to stand in the various areas of the stage using what they just learned to do this correctly. Students will complete a worksheet individually with the same picture after the parts of the stage have been labeled correctly by the instructor, and the activity has been completed.	For ELL, a word bank would be provided on the board to assist in writing down the information with the picture in their journal. They will be placed in groups of 3-4, and every student will be required to participate in at least one round of this activity. If the student was absent the day the initial lesson was taught, other students could assist in teaching them the information, as well as the instructor giving them a handout to help them understand.
Learning Objective #2: Students will be able to demonstrate effective voice and diction techniques to create believable characters.	Pre-Assessment Formative Assessment Post-Assessment	In their journals, they would be required to write about a voice they’ve heard in movies or real life that was interesting and unique and then share what that voice sounded like to the class. An improvisational activity called left-right-switch would be played to give the students an opportunity to utilize different character voices The students will perform a scene where they have to play two characters with two very different character voices.	None will be made for the pre-assessment. This game is played in a large group of 7-8 students, but can be played in even larger groups or smaller. The students will be assessed more on their character voices than their body movement.
Learning Objective #3 : Students will be able to analyze, develop, and create believable characters through improvisation and written scripts	Pre-Assessment Formative Assessment Post-Assessment	The students will write in their journals discussing a person in their life that has an interesting walk The activity is called “Walk-the-walk”, where the students have to pretend to walk in different scenarios An improvised performance of a scenario given by the instructor, with emphasis on character walks.	None will be made for the pre-assessment. All of the students will perform at one time, so they will be able to focus on their own walks without worrying about other students’ criticisms. Students will be paired up and given an index card with a scenario written on it.

Summary of Pre and Post Assessment:

The pre-assessment for learning objectives one, two, and three are all warm-up questions written on the board for the students’ journal entries. Objective one has a picture to go along with the warm-up question. The picture is an aerial view of the stage with the audience section labeled, with nine boxes on the stage section with lines as fill in the blanks. The nine areas of the stage to be labeled include: center stage, upstage, downstage, right stage, left stage, up right stage, up left stage, down right stage, and down left stage. The students will work individually on all journal entries. These are counted as a 10 point daily completion grade. The warm-ups for objectives two and three are based on personal reflection and act as a reference for the upcoming activities.

The post assessment for objective one will be quiz over the areas of the stage, with a similar aerial view of the stage with the different blank boxes to be filled in. This quiz will test the students and their understanding of the stage areas and the perspective needed to figure out which way is stage right or stage left. This quiz will not have a word bank. The terms are very simple and easily recognizable. The post assessments for objectives two and three will be major grades based on the students’ performances and their commitment to their character’s movement and/or voices. The students will be paired together for their performances. The instructor will give each group an index card with a written scenario, and the students will have the rest of the class time to discuss with their partner their characters and their movement and/or character voices. The performances would occur the next day. The students would be graded on commitment to character, believability, composure (not laughing during the middle of the performance), as well as interaction with the other characters. The grade will be based on a 100 point scale, with each category listed above worth 25 points. The total number of points would be the final grade for that assignment for the individual student. This assignment will not be a group grade.

Summary of Formative Assessments:

Learning objective one’s formative assessment is a participation grade and is used to assess the individual student’s ability to physically stand in the correct stage area. The floor of the classroom would be taped off into nine boxes, or a tic-tac-toe pattern. The audience would be addressed as the location of the students chairs in relation to the boxes on the floor. The students would get into groups of three or four and stand on the taped off stage. The instructor would tell the students the stand in center stage, and then move to different areas of the stage. By doing this, the instructor will be able to tell who understands the information and who does not. After everyone in the class has gone at least once, the instructor will call on those students who were struggling before, though it will seem like they were picked at random from their perspective. Without the stronger students to lean on, they will have to use their brain and figure out the different areas of the stage. The activity will be played until every student understands. If many of the students are struggling, a review of the information will be given as further support. This activity will address the tactile learners, as well as the visual and auditory learners. The students will be given a daily participation grade of ten points if they actively participate in the activity. Learning objective two’s formative assessment is a game called “left-right-switch”. The students, in a group of eight or more, will stand in a circle facing outwards. Every two students will be given a job title or scenario of some sort to act out between those two students. When the wheel is turned to the right or the left, the students must then start acting out the scene that was given to them with the person standing on the other side of them, thus requiring a commitment to a change in character voices. This game is a daily grade based on active participation. It is merely a fun way of getting the students to participate in class without feeling the pressure of a major grade or other students’ criticism. Learning objective three’s formative assessment is a game called “walk-the-walk”. The entire class participates in this activity together, so the students can focus easier on what they’re doing, rather than worrying about the criticisms of other students watching them. The students are asked to walk around the room in their normal walk, but then the teacher gives them different scenarios to walk in, such as walking on the moon, in a room filled with bubble gum, or through a dark alley. The students are graded based on how much they participate in this activity. This activity addresses tactile learners, visual learners, as well as auditory learners.

Design for Instruction

Secondary Methods Assignment Cover Sheet

Title of Assignment: Design for Instruction

Name: Katy Wood Date: 11/4/11

q Competency 003 – The teacher understands procedures for designing effective and coherent instruction and assessment based on appropriate learning goals and objectives.

q Competency 008 – The teacher provides appropriate instruction that actively engages students in the learning process.

Justification Statement:

I created this design for instruction on November 4, 2011. This design for instruction plan is created for any grade level in high school Theatre I. This design will be used in my future classroom to assess my students’ knowledge levels based on appropriate learning goals and objectives. The specific games discussed in this design will be used during my lessons to assess my students during the lesson that actively engages students in the learning process. This artifact will be very effective in my classroom because I have witnessed the assessment strategies listed in this design for instruction, and I know that they are effective means of assessment.

Design for Instruction

Results of pre-assessment:

The pre-assessment of the first learning objective included a picture drawn on the board of a proscenium theatre stage, with nine squares drawn on this stage to represent the different acting areas. The students would be required to draw this exact picture in their journals and attempt to label the different acting areas using their own previous knowledge, without the help of their fellow classmates. This pre-assessment was constructed solely to judge what the students knew prior to teaching this unit. A grade was not recorded in the grade book for correct completion, just completion of the warm-up. However, after looking through their journals to record a percentage correct for comparison purposes, only two of the twenty five students in the classroom got any other parts of the stage labeled correctly, besides center stage. However, all but two students got the center stage area labeled correctly. After analyzing this information, I have decided to use other strategies, along with lecture, to teach the students. By using a physical activity as well as a picture and lecture, the students should be able to grasp the concept of stage areas fairly quickly. The second learning objective pre-assessment includes a warm-up on the board asking the students to think of a type of voice they’ve heard in movies or in their homes that was unique and discuss why it was unique. They would then be required to share their thoughts with the class. Their pre-assessment would come with actual participation in class, as well as how well they were able to imitate or describe another person’s voice. Using this as a pre-assessment will help to decide which students are willing to participate as well as which students have talent. Knowing this information will be beneficial later when I go to form groups for acting activities, keeping in mind which students performed well so as not to keep them all in the same group but rather spread them out to different groups. The same reasoning will be applied for the pre-assessment of objective three, which is another journal entry asking the students to describe an interesting walk by person they know or someone on TV.

Unit Overview:

This unit begins with an introduction to the stage and the different parts of the stage and progresses to making physical characterizations while moving on the stage. Students will learn the different stage areas, how to move to those different stage areas, develop characters using different types of voices and character walks. There will be a variety of activities to allow students to express their creativity in their walks and voices, so they have plenty of opportunities to solidify their knowledge and master the objectives. In the end, the students will need to use their knowledge of all three objectives to create a scene to perform for the class at the end of the unit. These scenes will require the students to write a scene with everyone in the scene playing two different characters. They will be required to exit at some point during the scene and come back into the scene as a different character, using a different walk and voice. An outline below includes the time span of this unit and where each objective falls throughout this timeline.

Day	Learning Objective	Activity
Monday, November 7, 2011	#1	Pre-assessment Areas of the stage: Game of moving on stage
Tuesday, November 8, 2011	#2	Pre-assessment Improvisation: “Left-right-switch”
Wednesday, November 9, 2011	#3	Pre-assessment Improvisation: “Walk-the-walk”
Thursday, November 10, 2011	#1, #2, #3	Written Scene: Write and memorize lines
Friday, November 11, 2011	#1, #2, #3	Written Scene: Rehearse scene with props
Monday, November 14, 2011	#1, #2, #3	Written Scene: Rehearse Post-assessment

Activities:

Learning Objective 1: Moving on stage

This activity is based off learning objective one, and the students will learn the different areas of the stage by moving on an actual stage to the different locations. This activity will require some previous set up. I will go to the stage, or the center of the classroom if the stage is unavailable and tape off the floor to create a tic tac toe pattern on the floor, including nine clearly defined spaces. I will then ask the students to come up to the “stage” in groups of four or five. The name of the game will be to stand in the proper square. I will ask the students to move to down stage right…etc. After about five or six different requests, I will ask that group to sit down and have another group come up. I will continue with this process until all of the students have participated. After everyone has gone, I will assess which students were doing poorly and have them come up again. I will act as though I’m picking students randomly, but they will be the students who need more practice moving on stage. At the end of this activity, there will be a quick review on the board and the students will be given a short quiz to assess their knowledge.

Learning Objective Two: Left-right-switch

This activity is based off learning objective two. The students will be in groups of eight or more. They will be asked to stand in a circle facing outwards. Then the rest of the class will need to come up with various occupations or scenarios for each pair of students in the circle. One individual student will have two different scenarios to act out, one with the person on their right and one with the person on their left. After all the scenarios are decided, the first group goes, then the instructor will yell out “left or right”. When that happens, the circle of student will move one step in that direction and the next scene will be acted out with the newest person facing front. This will go on until everyone in the circle goes at least twice. Then the next group of students will play the game. This game will force students to create a different character voice for the two roles they have to play in their scenarios. I will assess the students on participation and willingness to perform.

Learning Objective Three: Walk the walk

This activity requires the entire class to participate at one time. Everyone in the class will walk around the classroom as they would normally walk. Then I will call out a place, such as a room full of bubble gum. Then the students would immediately have to walk as if they were in a room filled will bubble gum. I would go through about ten different places and watch the students as they walked. The students are doing this activity all at once so they do not feel pressured by standing up in front of the class and performing. It’s a way for them to loosen up without feeling anxious. The students will use their creative thinking to walk in different ways. This creative thinking will be used later for the scene they will write as a group. I will assess this activity based on participation as well as boldness to explore unique styles of walking.

Technology:

The only type of technology I will use during this unit is the projector. I will show the students a short clip from a SNL skit to show the students different character voices and movements. Otherwise, because this unit is based on characterization and movement on stage, the students will be doing just that, as opposed to watching a movie or even using an overhead. In this unit, it is very important for the students to physically do the work, as opposed to discussing it or reading about it.

Instructional Decision-Making

Secondary Methods Assignment Cover Sheet

Title of Assignment: Instructional Decision-Making

Name: Katy Wood Date: 11/4/11

q Competency 006 – The teacher understands strategies for creating an organized and productive learning environment and for managing student behavior.

ustification Statement:

This artifact was created on November 4^th, 2011 in order to discuss how I would handle my classroom when my lesson does not go as planned. This artifact was created to discuss a Theatre 1 classroom in a high school setting. I will reflect on this assignment during my future classroom when I plan my lessons. In order for me to create an organized and productive learning environment, I will need to plan for when my lessons do not go according to plan and how I will respond and react to those situations. I believe this will be effective in my classroom because it is important to plan for the unexpected in the classroom, and by being prepared, my classroom will flow smoothly while still being productive and organized.

Instructional Decision-Making

Incident #1:

During the very first day of the unit while the class was participating in the areas of the stage activity, I realized that a good eighty percent of the class still did not understand the areas of the stage. While I was assessing their participation in the activity, I also concluded that because the majority of the students thought they were correct, the minority of the students that were actually correct were being persuaded incorrectly. I realized that my original lecture on the areas of the stage was not clearly instructed, and I would need to go back and review the lesson one more time to make sure that they understood. I decided to take a different approach in teaching the students this time around. Instead of teaching them on the board with a drawing, I stood on the stage and physically showed them the different areas of the stage, providing the same rational for why stage left was stage left…etc. I then assessed the students not by pointing to the white board and asking which area of the stage I was pointing to. Rather, I stood in the different areas of the stage and asked them where I was standing. I would then ask the students, “if I were going to move to up-stage right, where would I need to go?” The students responded very well to this type of teaching by getting excited to tell me the correct place to stand. Because so many of the students are visual and tactile learners, I felt this approach would appeal much better than a picture on the board since the stage looked completely different when you weren’t looking at it from above. After I re-taught that part of the lesson, I would play the same game again, but with less people in the groups. This would require more individual thinking as opposed to blindly following the group to the correct space.

Incident #2:

As I started the game left right switch, some of the students became very animated and created wonderful characters with the scenario they were given. However, many of the students appeared to be not trying as hard as the other students. After analyzing the situation in my head, I came to the conclusion that the students that were having a hard time were the ones that were given a place as opposed to a person or occupation. When I realized this, I stopped the game and we gave everyone a new scenario that was more specific, like an occupation or a nursery rhyme. This seemed to work well for the first group, but things changed when the second group came up to perform. I gave the second group the same type of scenarios, and they responded well to those, having lots of ideas of physical movement to characterize the situation. However, none of them changed their voices when they went to their other scene. Again, I stopped the game. I re-explained to the students that the name of the game was more focused on character voices than physicality, however, physicality was important. I then went around the circle and asked the students to give me a different character voice for their two scenarios. When they were having trouble, I told them they could change their speed to create a different voice, as well as pitch and dynamic. After giving them these examples, they seemed to grasp the concept more clearly. I believe the students just needed to hear an actual example, as well as a description of what makes a voice sound different. They then continued to play the game and perform quite well.

Analysis of Student Learning

Secondary Methods Assignment Cover Sheet

Title of Assignment: Analysis of Student Learning

Name: Katy Wood Date: 11/11/11

q Competency 009 – The teacher incorporates the effective use of technology to plan, organize, deliver, and evaluate instruction for all students.

q Competency 010 – The teacher monitors student performance and achievement; provides students with timely, high-quality feedback, and responds flexibly to promote learning for all students.

Justification Statement:

I wrote this artifact on November 11, 2011. This was written to compare and assess the performance of the different students of one high school Theatre Arts level one class. This artifact will be used in the future so that I will use technology to organize and evaluate instruction for all students. This artifact will be effective because it will give me the opportunity to monitor student performance and achievement. And after analyzing the data that I collect, I will be able to better my classroom and the students in it.

Analysis of Student Learning

Whole Class:

I set the passing criterion at 80% for my class because the information that they are learning, the areas of the stage, is very important knowledge they will need to be able to build their acting skills. After putting the numbers into the chart to get the score percentages of the students’ pre-assessment test, the class average was 33%. The average score after the post-assessment test was 92%. This is twelve points higher than the passing criterion, so the class average increased by fifty-nine points. Only two students scored higher than an eighty on the pre-test, and this increased to nineteen out of the twenty students after the post test. The following table represents the difference from pre-assessment to post-assessment for each student.

Looking at this table, it is easy to see that every student increased their scores from pre-assessment to post-assessment. It also shows a large increase in scores across the board. Every student, except for one, increased their score to well over 80%. Many of the students did not even get 50% correct for the pre-test, and now they have aced the post-test. The following chart breaks down the scores into points possible as well as student ethnicity.

Student	Ethnicity	Pre-Assessment Obj. 1	Test Score % (80% criterion)	Post Test Obj. 1	Test Score %
		18 points possible
1	W	0	0%	16	88%
2	W	10	55%	18	100%
3	H	0	0%	17	94%
4	W	0	0%	10	55%
5	H	2	11%	15	83%
6	H	1	5%	18	100%
7	W	5	27%	17	94%
8	W	10	55%	18	100%
9	W	4	22%	17	94%
10	W	0	0%	17	90%
11	H	10	55%	18	100%
12	W	13	72%	18	100%
13	W	2	11%	16	88%
14	W	6	33%	18	100%
15	H	18	100%	18	100%
16	H	0	0%	16	88%
17	W	13	72%	18	100%
18	W	2	11%	15	83%
19	W	6	33%	17	94%
20	AA	17	94%	18	100%

Subgroups:

The two subgroups I chose to analyze were the Hispanic students and the white students. I chose to compare these two groups because there were only six Hispanic students in the class, with all the rest but one being white. There is one African-American student in this class. The Hispanic scores were interesting to analyze next to the White scores. The White students in the class scored an average of 30% on the pre-assessment test and an average of 91% on the post-assessment test. This is an increase of sixty-one points. The Hispanic students scored an average of twenty-nine percent on the pre-assessment test and a 91% on the post-assessment test, with an increase in score of sixty-two points. I chose to focus on objective one for this comparison. I found it interesting how both groups scored almost exactly the same on the pre-test and post-test. My theory is that the information being taught for learning objective one is not ethnically based information. It revolves around theatre performers, so unless the students had any previous stage experience, they would not have known the information. Even after the instruction for learning objective one, both groups had very large, very significant number increases in their scores, leading me to believe that the information being taught was easy to comprehend. The graph below shows the increase in percentages among Whites and Hispanics.

Individuals:

The two students I chose to analyze more carefully were students number twenty and number four. I chose these two students because one of the students scored one hundred percent on both the pre-assessment and the post assessment, and the other student scored zero percent the first time and still did not pass the second time with a fifty five percent. Knowing that student number twenty has had many previous acting experiences in the past, it would make sense for this student to understand the information and score one hundred percent on both assessments. It is important to keep these students in mind because they will be able to teach other students in the class. Students generally understand content easier when a fellow classmate explains the information to them. The student that originally knew nothing about the stage during the pre-assessment still did not quite understand the information the second time around. This student is white and knows the English language very well, so the theory that his comprehension is stifled because of a language barrier is thrown out the window. This student does not participate in class very often, neither vocally or in written format like worksheets. The theory is that this student is taking a theatre class for the fine arts credit, so they are not seemingly interested in the subject matter. The solution would be to change their outlook or opinion of theatre. By making them enjoy the subject, they will become more curious and want to pursue it. The following graph displays these two students’ scores.